


The Cost of Living

by deacertes



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Immortality, Immortals, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26084761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deacertes/pseuds/deacertes
Summary: Copley contemplates immortality as he bears witness to what it involves.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 18
Kudos: 265





	The Cost of Living

Copley looked up from his laptop as the door to the safe house suddenly swung open. He was on his feet when Andy marched in. Right behind her was Joe, who carried Nicky. Nile assumed responsibility for bolting the door shut behind them. 

Copley had assumed Nicky was unconscious from the way his head lolled, but he let out a dull moan when he was placed on the couch.

“Dear God.”

The words slipped out unbidden, and Copley pressed his fist against his mouth to hold back the rest. 

Nicky was conscious, but from the knees down his flesh was shredded, little more than meat, gristle and bone. His face beneath the blood spatter was startlingly white. 

Joe dropped to the floor beside him and clasped one of Nicky’s hands between his.

“Breathe. Breathe with me, habibi. Breathe. It will be over soon. I am here, my love.”

The sounds Nicky made were low and animal-like; a series of continuous grunts. 

Copley felt sick as he realised the man was trying to breathe around the agony of his wounds. 

He hadn’t been able to divulge from the initial footage, or from anything Le Livre had said, whether or not they could experience pain in the truest sense of the word. It had only become evident when Merrick had stabbed Joe, and on that occasion the pain seemed to be as brief as the wounds that had rapidly healed. 

As he witnessed Nicky’s suffering now, he felt a fresh surge of guilt.

“We have morphine,” he suggested, quietly. “If that will help?”

Andy stared impassively at him for a moment before she let out a tired sigh and shook her head. 

“It’s too hard to work out the dosage. Too little and it burns through our system before it can take effect. And too much is… dangerous.”

Copley thought about what he now knew, that at some point their immortality just stopped. There was always the chance that an accidental overdose could kill them permanently. 

“So, you can’t use anything?”

He couldn’t keep the horror from his voice.

“It will pass,” said Andy. “It always does.”

The emotionless façade flickered when she looked down at Nicky, and Copley caught a glimpse of an endless well of grief.

A noise from the kitchenette startled him. Nile was preparing food. He decided to put some distance between him and the other three, he already felt he that had intruded enough. Although, even as he offered to help, he struggled to understand how any of them could contemplate eating right now. 

Nile must have seen his confusion.

“Healing leaves us hungry. I guess it uses up energy or something.”

Well, that made a sort of sense, he supposed. They prepared tea and sandwiches. It still felt surreal when they carried them through to the others. 

Nicky was still a horrible mangled mess on the couch, but his breathing had slowed. Joe was curled over him in a protective hunch.

Copley sipped at his tea. A glimpse of a bone left him unable to stomach a single bite of sandwich.

Nile had no such compunction and was working her way through the plate. Andy had taken one too.

Copley wondered how long it would take. The others seemed to have settled in for the duration. He thought about how many times must they have sat around like this, while blood pooled on the floor and the only sound was laboured breaths. 

He shut his eyes and tried not to think of another room and the ventilated breaths that had finally just… stopped.


End file.
